Monsters and Demons
by Fledgeling
Summary: My idea of what the first chapter of "The Reckoning" will be like... enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

The first section is a bit slow, but don't worry, it gets better- hope you like it!

**Disclaimer: All characters are property of Kelley Armstrong... sigh.**

Monsters and Demons

I awoke to the sound of... nothing. My dad and I may have moved around a lot, but we'd always stayed in Buffalo- I was definitely a city girl, used to waking up to the sounds of jack-hammers from nearby construction sites, sidewalk vendors hawking their goods, and blaring horns from annoyed drivers on their morning commutes. So the silence seemed overwhelming, almost oppressive-

_Whoa, Chloe_, I thought, _stop being so melodramatic. Just because the last few weeks have been horror-movie material, you shouldn't invent trouble. It'll turn up soon enough. _

With that lovely thought I got up and took a long shower in the bathroom across the hall. After I managed to wash most of the horrible black dye from my blonde hair, I dressed in my least-filthy clothes and headed downstairs. I could hear faint voices coming from one of the other rooms, and followed the sounds to the kitchen, where Andrew and Derek were seated around a large farm table. Derek was looking expectantly at the doorway as I entered, and Andrew glanced up from his coffee, seeming relieved- clearly, he still hadn't come to terms yet with the new-and-improved Derek.

"Ah, Chloe," said Andrew, "did you manage to sleep alright? I know that after everything you've been through, it might not be easy-"

"It was fine, thanks," I replied, shooting a sharp glance at Derek. He shook his head slightly to tell me that he hadn't said anything about my zombie-raising nightmares. Good. It's bad enough that Andrew's suddenly responsible for four teenaged runways that are being hunted by a ruthless group of psycho scientists; best to give him a few more hours to adjust before he finds out that three of us are genetic mutants with out-of-control superpowers.

"Food's over there." Derek said, pointing to the counter.

I poured myself some cereal then sat down next to Derek. Andrew asked polite questions about school and my hobbies as I ate, carefully steering clear of anything related to the Edison Group or why we were here. Derek ignored the conversation and concentrated on eating.

When Derek was halfway through his fifth bowl of cereal- werewolves need a lot of calories, and teenaged werewolves who've begun to Change need more than most- Simon appeared, yawning sleepily.

"About time you woke up", Derek grunted as Simon snagged the chair next to mine.

"Actually, I was going to sleep for a few more hours, but I figured if I did there'd be no food left. What is that, bro, your tenth bowl?" Simon said, grinning, and shaking two already empty cereal boxes that had been left on the table.

Derek made no comment as he walked to the kitchen counter, returning with an orange that he placed next to Simon before resuming his seat.

"Still trying to look after your brother, I see," Andrew said, smiling slightly as Simon rolled his eyes and began peeling his fruit.

"Speaking of which, don't you think it's time you told us what the plan is?" Derek asked.

Andrew cleared his throat. "Ahem, well, I think it's probably best if we wait until Victoria joins us-"

"For what?" Tori interrupted, as she stood in the kitchen doorway. "Ugh. Cereal?" she continued, making a face. "I'm _lactose-intolerant_."

Andrew and Simon stared at her, startled by her sudden appearance, but one look at Derek's smug face told me that he'd guessed Andrew would try to stall until Tori arrived, and had only asked the question after he'd heard her moving around upstairs. Typical.

"Andrew was going to tell us why we're here: what this place is, what the Edison Group has been up to, and what the plan is for freeing Derek and Simon's dad," I said.

"Yeah," Simon echoed, "we want to know everything."

Andrew sighed, running his fingers through his short grey hair. "I can't tell you everything- no, Derek, let me finish- because I don't _know_ everything. A group of us have been gathering information and trying to bring down the Edison Group for years, but even we didn't think they'd resort to killing children. I spent most of last night on the phone and I've organized an emergency meeting here this afternoon. If it's alright with the rest of you, perhaps we can finish this discussion then?"

We glanced at each other, unsure. Finally, Derek, said "Fine. But we need answers. We need to _do_ something- we can't just wait around and hope that the Edison group disappears. They'll find us; probably sooner than we think."


	2. Chapter 2

"So, now that we've got that settled, what do we do for the next few hours?" Simon asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I'm going for a run- I haven't been getting enough exercise lately," said Derek, looking slightly uncomfortable at having to point out his werewolf needs.

"Dog-boy probably wants to go pee on some bushes to mark his new territory," Tori muttered. Ignoring glares from the rest of us, she continued, "We need to go shopping. I need conditioner, Chloe needs hair dye, and we all need new clothes. Not to mention _decent_ food. I assume that this town has some sort of mall?"

"It does. Simon, would you and Chloe mind staying here at the house while Tori and I buy your things?" Andrew asked.

"No problem," Simon said, at the same time Derek replied "I'll run later, after you get back."

Andrew looked slightly nervous. "Err, no, no, you should go, I'm sure Simon and Chloe will be fine. The protection spells here are extremely strong, and you know how... people like you... get when they haven't... ahhh-"

"The word you're looking for is 'werewolves.' And you should know that I would never hurt Chloe or Simon, no matter how much strain I was under. I'm not a monster."

"Of course not! I didn't mean to imply-" Andrew insisted.

"It's fine. Nothing I haven't heard before." Derek got up, and turned towards Simon and me. "I'll stay close to the house- if anything weird happens, just shout; I'll hear you."

"We'll be fine," I assured him.

"Yeah, bro, I'll take good care of Chloe," Simon said as he put his arm around my shoulders. I felt my face turning red and glanced up at Derek. His expression was unreadable during the second he met my eyes before heading out the door and closing it so hard the frame shook.

Andrew and Tori left a few minutes later, promising to be back before lunch. Simon brought out his sketch book to show me the new drawings he'd finished while Derek and I were away, and we spent the next hour talking about possibly publishing the comic online. Simon had just started working on the artwork for the next chapter when Derek came in through the back door. He gave us a quick glance to check that we'd managed to survive his absence intact then turned without a word and thumped his way upstairs to shower.

"Honestly, you'd think he'd been raised by wolves," Simon said, shaking his head sadly before grinning at me. "You've no idea how long I've waited to use that line on someone who'd actually appreciate the irony."

I rolled my eyes at him, and told Simon that I needed to get something from the other room and would be back in a few minutes. Derek would have immediately noticed that I was lying, but fortunately Simon was less perceptive. The truth was that I'd noticed the computer in the small study this morning, and wanted a few minutes alone to go online and check for new information about my dad. As I brought up the Buffalo newspaper's website, I silently prayed not to find anything. There was nothing on the front page, so I quickly checked through the rest of the articles in the local news section- still nothing. I was about to close the browser when I noticed the "Obituaries" heading, clicked on the link before I could talk myself out of it and-

"Chloe? What are you looking at?"

I jumped, startled, and turned around to find Derek standing behind me. His wet hair was slicked back and he was wearing a sweatshirt with the picture of a hideous cartoon witch being burned at the stake and a caption that read, "Cortez Cabal: Putting Witches in Their Place Since 1478."

"I-I w-w-was just-"

He ignored me, reading the information on the screen himself, and sighed. "Her name isn't on there. I checked it this morning."

"Whose name?" I countered.

Derek rolled his eyes. "You're looking for your aunt, right? Look, Chloe, even if she is dead- and I'm not saying she is- it could be weeks before her death is reported, if ever. You shouldn't torture yourself, trust me."

I met his eyes, finding it hard to swallow. Derek and Simon's dad disappeared months ago; how many times had Derek frantically scanned the news to see if his father was reported dead, terrified that one day he would be?

"How do you do it? Go on without knowing what's happened to someone you love?" I asked him softly.

Before Derek could answer, Simon came charging into the room.

"There you are- I've been looking everywhere! Andrew and Tori just got back: we need to get a move on before she nabs all the good stuff for herself!" Simon yelled. He took my hand and hauled me towards the kitchen, while Derek followed silently behind us.


	3. Chapter 3

We found Tori sorting through an enormous pile of Target bags on the table while Andrew looked on wearily. The five of us managed to get everything sorted and put away fairly quickly, although there was some major cleaning up to do after Tori used a knock-back spell on Derek that sent him crashing on top of the groceries for wearing the awful witch-burning sweatshirt he'd found upstairs. Her indignation over the prejudices against witches kind of took a beating when we discovered that she'd bought Derek an "X-Men: Wolverine" t-shirt and a pair of "Harry Potter" boxers for Simon. In the end, Andrew had to put binding spells on everyone and ordered us all to our rooms until the meeting.

The next two hours passed slowly, and I think each of us was becoming more and more anxious as we waited for Andrew's friends to arrive. When the first car pulled into the driveway, everyone practically ran downstairs. As the meeting had been arranged at the last minute, only three members of Andrew's group were able to attend: a short, balding man in his fifties, an annoyed-looking young Hispanic woman, and an elderly lady carrying a large a bag full of ugly pink yarn. After everyone grabbed a seat in the living room, Andrew decided to call the meeting to order.

"Well, I suppose we should start by going around the room and having everyone introduce themselves and, um, their abilities," he said awkwardly. "I'll start. As you all know, I'm Andrew, and I'm a sorcerer. Tom?"

The short, bald man next to Andrew stood up. "Hi, I'm Tom. I'm a Tempestras half-demon. That means I can control the weather- create storms if there's enough moisture in the air, that sort of thing. And this enchanting lady is Tabitha," he said, gesturing towards the elderly woman to his right as the rest of the adults groaned.

Tabitha smiled, and looked up from her knitting, "A bad pun. I'm a witch, children."

"Cool," Tori said, "So you'll be teaching me spells? I need to know how to fight Mo- I mean, the Edison Group."

Tabitha looked appalled. "Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no. That isn't done. Witches don't fight- why would we? We're peaceful- it's the sorcerers who cause all of the destruction in the supernatural world and fortunately they don't bother us- witches aren't skilled enough to be a threat to them, apparently," she sniffed, casting dark looks at Andrew and Simon before returning to her knitting.

"So what use are you?" Tori muttered angrily, but the group's attention had already turned to the remaining guest.

"I guess that leaves me," said the final woman, tossing her long dark hair over her shoulder. "I'm Maria. I'm a Tripudio. That's a telekinetic half-demon. Watch."

At first, it seemed like nothing had happened, then I realized that Maria had moved from where she was leaning against the wall behind Tom and was now behind Andrew. Another blink, and she was behind Derek, then back to Andrew and to her original spot.

"You- how- what?" Simon asked, dazed.

Maria rolled her eyes. "I have superpowers, remember? I can teleport short distances. Not that useful, but it looks cool. Now, can we get on with the show-and- tell?"

Simon, Tori and I introduced ourselves (Tabitha looked a bit startled when she heard who Tori's mother was- apparently, even other witches couldn't stand Diane Enright- and announced that this 'explained a lot'), and then it was Derek's turn.

"Derek Souza. Werewolf."

That's when things started to go downhill.

"WHAT?" Maria shouted.

"Andrew, you should have said... I mean, is he... is he... there are children here!" Tabitha exclaimed.

"Everyone, I've known Derek for years-" Andrew started.

"Yes, but that was BEFORE. How old is he? He looks like he's going to start Changing any day now, and have you heard the stories about young werewolves?" Maria asked, still yelling, "They-" Andrew and Tabitha tried to cut her off before she could finish her sentence, but she yelled over them "- can't control themselves! They EAT PEOPLE!"

Everyone turned to look at Derek. His jaw was clenched and he was determinedly staring into space, avoiding our eyes.

I couldn't stand it. "That's not Derek. I don't care what other young werewolves have done; Derek's _different_. I know he is."

"Chloe," Derek said, looking at me for the first time, "They're right. I should leave. I'm dangerous; I don't know what will happen when... _if_... I Change."

"You're not leaving- you promised. I can't believe that even in wolf-form that you'd ever hunt humans and you know that, too. _You're not a monster_," I said fiercely.

"Chloe's right. I know my brother, and Derek would never hurt anyone unless it was to protect someone he loves. If he goes, I go," Simon said with a glare, daring anyone in the room to challenge him.

Tori rolled her eyes. "God, Simon, you're such a drama-queen. Seriously, though, the only thing that's dangerous about Derek is his smell. I mean, at least he's never raised a rotting corpse in his sleep, unlike some people I could name."

This caused a new outburst from Andrew and friends.

"Chloe, this is serious," Andrew said after I stutteringly explained about my accidental zombie raisings. "Most necromancers with years of training have difficulty raising the dead; I've never heard of anyone doing that without rituals, let alone by accident."

"What's the big deal?" Simon asked. "I mean, yeah, it's gross, but she fixes it pretty fast."

Maria looked disgusted. "The 'big deal', Simon, is that your girlfriend isn't just making dead bodies roll around; she's shoving souls back into their decaying corpses and compelling them to do her will. How would you feel if the next 'gross' zombie was your grandmother? Can you imagine how terrified poor Granny would be? One minute she's enjoying the afterlife, then WHAM! She finds herself inside her rotting former body without any idea why, forced to do everything she's told- even murder her darling grandchild if the necromancer orders it- and no way to say no or to escape. And would you want that to happen to you after you died, Simon?"


	4. Chapter 4

I was shaking. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Simon turn pale; Tori was staring at me open-mouthed with an expression of horror on her face. I couldn't blame them, they _should_ be frightened. I know I was.

Derek snorted. "Please. Can anyone see Chloe torturing someone? Or raising an undead army? I don't think so. Yeah, she needs to learn how to control her powers, and she will. She's only had them for a month! And besides, it's not like you people have any right to judge- two of you are _half-demons_. Your dads are getting flame-broiled with Hitler in Hell."

Maria sputtered angrily, while Simon laughed so hard the soda he'd been drinking started coming out his nose. Apparently, half-demons don't like being reminded about their fathers' place of residence.

The meeting never really did get back on track. Maria refused to go near Derek, although Tabitha seemed to warm up to him and started asking Derek a series of increasingly embarrassing questions about his dog-like traits (I think he would have preferred to be ignored). In the end, the only thing we accomplished was that Tom would contact his necromancer friend about teaching me how to control my summoning, and that Derek, Tori and I would also get lessons from the group's shaman member on meditation techniques to prevent outbursts of power.

Even after Andrew's friends left, the tense atmosphere remained. Dinner was mostly silent, and I fled to my room as soon as I possibly could. I huddled on my bed, shivering, and kept re-playing Maria's comments about necromancers and seeing Simon and Tori's disgusted faces. A few minutes later, I heard a soft knock on my door.

"Chloe?" Derek said softly, opening the door slowly, "Can I come in?"

I smiled slightly, "Looks like you already are."

He shrugged and made his way towards the foot of my bed before stopping abruptly and looking around. "I just wanted to see how you're doing. That meeting... it was rough. Those people were idiots- you know that, right?"

"Well, they were wrong about you, but they weren't lying about me. What I can do- Derek, I know it's-"

"No, Chloe, what you do is important. Ghosts wander around for decades without anyone seeing them, or hearing them... that must be horrible. You can help them do whatever it is they have to do in order to move on, to cross over. Don't forget that. You'll figure out how to control the whole zombie-raising thing."

He held my gaze steadily, and I saw something I couldn't name in his eyes, although I had a strong suspicion that the same unknown feeling was mirrored in my own eyes as well. My heart started racing, and I felt as though I couldn't catch my breath. Panicked, I dragged my blue eyes away from Derek's green ones. To my relief, I found that I could breathe again.

"Th-th-thanks for the pep-talk," I said shakily.

"Anytime," Derek replied as he headed out the door.

**Well, this was my very first FanFic- hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it! **


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